Thank You for Last Night
by nicolasamaria
Summary: Puck and Rachel both end up spending the summer after sophomore year in the tiny lakeside town of Van Isle. "Puck's been trying to deny it all night, but he thinks he might just be on a date with Rachel Berry."
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hey guys! I'm back! _

_Many thanks to Mell aka Cheapen for being the wind beneath my wings, my reason for being. lmao, I loooooove you, bb! You're the best beta ever.  
_

_Disclaimer: Van Isle is a fictional town that I created for this story, it's not an actual place, as far as I know.  
_

_

* * *

_

"Hi."

Puck looks up from packing away his guitar to see Rachel standing in front of him, ringing her hands together.

"Hi." he says back, slowly. It takes him a moment before he realizes that they're the only two left in the room.

"Your performance was excellent." she comments, smoothing out invisible wrinkles in her skirt. Puck just shrugs, he doesn't need Rachel to tell him he kicked ass, he knows he did. Still, it's nice to hear it, especially from her.

"I-I'm sorry we didn't place at Regionals. I know that it's partially my fault, the whole thing with Jesse, and I-"

"Whoa, whoa, Berry." Puck stops her, standing up straight and crossing his arms loosely over his chest. "Why are you apologizing to _me_?"

"Well-it's just … you gave up a lot to be in the glee club and I know it's not exactly … cool or anything, but I'm more than confident that we'll place next year and I think it would benefit all of us if you chose to stay."

Puck can't help it, he laughs. This girl is crazy, like one hundred percent certifiable, "I'm not quiting glee, Rach."

She blinks, obviously blindsided, which is good because Puck likes to keep them on their toes. This whole thing with Regionals has been pretty fucked, but glee has kind of been good to him. He and Quinn are together now, he thinks, and Finn doesn't look at him like he wants to kill him anymore and Puck's trips to the principals office are now few are far between.

"You're not quitting?"

"Nope."

"Really? You're not just saying that so I'll leave you alone?"

"Oh, damn." Puck mutters sarcastically as he swings his guitar case over his shoulder. "You figured me out."

"What?" Rachel squeaks, following him out of the room, nearly tripping over herself. Puck chuckles and shoots her a smug grin. Realization washes over her face and she scowls at him. "That's not very nice, Noah."

"It's not my fault you're easy to fuck with."

"Yes, well, asinine behavior aside, I'm glad that you'll be returning next year." She tells him as they walk down the near empty hallway. He thinks it's kind of weird that he's having an actual conversation with Rachel Berry, even weirder that he's totally made out with her and almost got to second base. If you had told him last year, around this time, that he would be in the glee club and actually like it, he probably would have punched you in the face.

"So, you and Finn, huh?" He doesn't know why he asks because it's not like he really cares. Rachel smiles hugely and practically starts skipping, he tries not to think about how adorable she looks.

"Yes, we are an item now. I think." she adds as an after though, frowning to herself.

Puck scoffs, "You mean you don't know?"

"Well he hasn't exactly made clear the status of our relationship. I'm assuming we're together because he held my hand and walked me to class today and he told me he loved me, which obviously-"

"Wait, he what?" Puck halts, quirking an incredulous brow at her.

She bobs her head happily, "Yes, at Regionals."

"Huh." is all he says before continuing his way out into the parking lot.

"What?" she pants as she scurries after him.

Puck just shakes his head, "Nothing."

"You can't just say something like that and then not tell me-"

"What'd I say? I didn't say anything."

"You said 'huh'!"

"So?"

"So! It had negative connotations behind it!"

"It did not!"

"Do you think he didn't mean it? Maybe he was saying it in-in the heat of the moment. Or maybe! Maybe he was saying it because he felt sorry for me, with the whole Jesse situation. Noah!" she whines as he picks up his pace in an attempt to get away from her.

"Seriously reconsidering the whole joining glee again next year, Berry." he bits out as he reaches his truck.

"But you can't just say something like that and then not explain yourself."

"Jesus fucking Christ, get over it!" Rachel reels back as if he slapped her, but he doesn't really care because she's driving him insane right now. "I wasn't saying anything bad, okay? I was just- I dunno."

Rachel glares at him for a moment and she really looks like she wants to rip his head off. This is why he doesn't have in depth conversations or talk about his feelings, especially not with girls. They start over analyzing shit and get all offended over things they think you said, but you really didn't.

"Look, guys like Finn don't lie about that sorta shit, so just chill out."

"Fine." she says through her teeth, he can tell she wants to keep talking about it, but seriously, he doesn't give a shit and his mom is making brownies today, so he wants to get home before Sarah and her snot-nosed little friends eat them all.

"Well, I'm gonna go then."

"Wait!" Rachel cries, flinging herself between him and the drivers side door. "My dads are both working late tonight and won't be able to pick me up for another hour and a half. I don't really mind waiting, but -would it be too much to ask for a ride home?"

Puck sighs and pretends to think about it for a couple seconds before nodding, "Yes, it would be."

Rachel's face falls, "Oh, okay then." she mumbles before starting to shuffle back towards the school. Puck reaches out and grabs her upper arm, tugging her back.

"I'm just joking, Berry, jeez." Rachel stares at him blankly, she obviously doesn't think he's very funny, which is sad because he thinks he's hilarious. "I'll give you a ride home."

"Well as long as it's of no inconvenience to you." she says dryly, Puck thinks she's being sarcastic, which, by the way, thank God. He didn't think it was possible for little Miss Tightly Wound to crack a joke.

"Come on, get in." he pulls open the door and motions towards the truck. And he totally didn't make her get in on the drivers side so he could catch a peek of her panties as she climbed across the bench seat (They're pink, in case you're wondering). It's a quiet drive for the most part, Rachel only lives like ten minutes from school and there's not really a lot for them to talk about.

"So, how are things between you and Quinn?" Except maybe that.

"Fine, I guess."

"You guess? You mean you don't know?" She mocks and Puck doesn't really know what to say to that because _Rachel Berry_ is mocking him, so instead he opts for reaching over and messing up her hair to distract her.

"Noah!" she shrieks, slapping his hand out of the way. He laughs quietly to himself, Rachel isn't so bad once you get past all the psycho Broadway star bullshit. "Fine, don't tell me anything-"

"Okay, I won't."

"Even though I bared my soul to you and-"

"Yeah, well I didn't ask you to."

"Allowed myself to be vulnerable with you and now you can't even do the same. This is not how friendships grow, Noah." The instant she says it, it's like she knows that it was a weird thing to say and he has to stop himself from saying something really mean that would probably like make her cry.

"Yeah, well ..." he doesn't really know what to say, Rachel just basically called him her friend, which is … weird, but he guesses they kind of are now. "What are you gonna be doing this summer?"

Rachel frowns at the sudden subject change, "Oh, I-I think my fathers and I are going out to our lake house in a couple weeks and then after that they're taking me to New York since I got into this summer music academy there."

"Cool." he nods as he turns onto her street. She lives at the very end of the block of really nice houses, like the kind with white picket fences and perfect lawns with grass that looks like it was painted, it's so green.

"What about you?"

"Hm?"

"What are your plans for this summer?"

"Uh, I dunno, probably just gonna … hang out."

"Oh and by 'hang out' you mean underage drinking and the use of illegal substances, I'm sure." She snaps, suddenly sounding angry, and Puck has no idea what he did to piss her off in the past five seconds. He pulls into her driveway and she's already unbuckling her seatbelt before he's stopped the car and for some reason her being pissed off at him has made him pissed off at her.

"Damn Berry, you just have me all figured out don't you." he taunts and she scoffs at him as she tries to push open the door, he'd tell her that it sticks sometimes and that you have to pull up and then push out, but she's kind of being a bitch right now for no reason so he's going to let her suffer. "Except you forgot the part where I fuck a lot of hot girls."

"You are so crude- what is wrong with this door!" she cries, yanking on the door to no avail, he's almost afraid that she's going to hulk out and rip it off its hinges or something. He reaches over, trying not to be offended when she basically flattens herself against the seat so his arm doesn't touch her, and pops open the door.

"Thank you." she says stiffly as she slips out of the car, gathering her books as quickly as she can.

"You're not welcome." he returns petulantly and Rachel turns livid, her eyes light up as she yanks her bag down from the truck.

"You are _so_ immature."

"Right back at you!"

"You're insufferable!" she screams as she finally wrangles her bag out of the truck and storms towards her house.

"Yeah, well- you're that too!" He yells before throwing the truck in reverse and backing out. He has no idea what that word even fucking means, fucking Rachel Berry with her fucking huge vocabulary.

He's really fucking glad that she's going to be gone for the summer, then he won't have to see her stupid face or hear her stupid voice.

Fuck.

– –

So, all those plans that Puck had for the summer, you know the ones where he drank a lot of booze and had a lot of sex, even played a little Xbox? Yeah, totally gone, done, _finito_.

His life sucks and he's pretty sure his mom hates him. This whole thing was her stupid idea in the first place, barely two and a half weeks in his summer and she tells him that the three of them are going on a little family vacation. His summer was set and now he's going to be stuck in some lakeside retirement home for a month and a half. The second they're in Van Isle, Puck decides that he hates it. It's like small town America except worse because he's pretty sure that they don't have WiFi up here or even cable.

"What the fuck is wrong with my phone?" he mutters, he's been trying to send a text message for the past five minutes and it won't go through.

His mom reaches over and swats the back of his head, "Language, Noah."

He just rolls his eyes, fuck that shit, if he's gonna be stuck out here for a whole month he's gonna use all the language he wants. His summer is totally fucked, he's basically stranded in this lame ass town with no way of contacting the outside world and maybe like two hot chicks to defile, since he doubts there's a large supply here.

"I know this isn't your idea of fun, but I think we could all really use the … bonding experience."

"Yeah, sure." Puck mumbles as he shifts lower into his seat. His mother simply rolls her eyes as she turns onto what he's guessing is the main road since it seems to have the most shops on it. There's a lot of random stores that he can't really image why people would go into. Seriously, there is a whole store dedicated to selling twinkle lights.

"Mom, is this where old people come to die?" he hears Sarah ask from the backseat and he snorts, which earns him another slap to the back of the head.

"No sweetie, of course not, why would you say that?"

"Well, it's just that there's a lot of old people, with canes, and I saw one with an oxygen tank. You didn't bring us here because we're going to die, did you?" Sarah asks, panic building in her voice. His mother sighs hopelessly, "No Sarah, I did not bring you here to die and old people don't come here to die. They come here to rest."

"They kind of come here to die." Puck comments as he scrolls through his playlists on his iPod.

"Noah!"

"Ma, it's a retirement town." he says pointedly and all she can do is narrow his eyes at him because she knows he's right. Puck knows it's a retirement town because he looked it up before he even started packing for this stupid trip. He needed to see if there was any way to salvage his vacation. There wasn't. Van Isle has a population of eight hundred, half of which is everyone over the age of sixty-five in the state of Ohio.

"Do you remember the address, Noah?"

"Uh, no?"

"1224 West Rivers Street." Sarah says and he and his mom both angle their heads back to look at her. She simply shrugs and holds up the piece of paper with the driving instructions his mom had given to him at the start of the trip.

"I thought I gave that to you?" she asks, glancing at him. He doesn't say anything as he puts in his headphones and tunes out the both of them. He loves his mom, he really does, but it's times like these he wishes that there was such a thing as a justifiable homicide. He wishes it even more as they pull up into the driveway of a tiny house with it's Christmas lights still hung up and a beat up old boat sitting right in the middle of the front lawn.

"Why the fu-" he starts but is interrupted by the screaming his aunt is doing from the front porch. His aunt looks a lot like his mom, except a little shorter, a little rounder and she's maybe even a little more insane, if that's possible.

"Ava! Oh, Ava!" she wails, launching herself into his mothers arms. His mom stumbles back from the impact but catches herself before she falls and awkwardly pats her sisters on the back.

"Hannah!" she says haltingly as she attempts to pry her sister's arms off of her. Puck just shakes his head as he goes around to the back of the car to get their shit out of the trunk.

"Noah!" his aunt screeches as she launches herself at him, she's near tears and he thinks that's pretty fucking weird, but whatever. He holds up the bags in front of him like a shield, stopping her before she tackles him.

"Sorry, maybe later." he mutters as he steps around her. She then moves on from him to his little sister, who is basically cowering in fear by his mother. At least now he knows that they'll both be suffering with him this summer.

– –

Puck realizes that he may very well be in hell when he walks into the living room and sees that there's no TV. What the fuck is he supposed to do here all summer if there's no TV, read or something? The last book Puck read was the one they read as a class in the 7th grade and even then he just drew pictures of boobs in the margins.

"Oh, shit." Puck mutters, stumbling back slightly as he notices the giant gray cat that's sitting in the recliner. It's staring at him like it fucking wants to annihilate him, it's yellow eyes on him like a trained assassin. It must know that he's more of a dog person.

"Nice, cat." he says under his breath as he edges himself as far away from the beast as possible, dropping the bags in front of the kitchen door. He figures he's being kind of a pussy right now, so he stops himself and takes a quick step towards the cat, trying to scare it. He realizes he _really_ is a pussy when the cat starts to get up, slowly because it's really fat, and he bolts down the hallway.

"What! No, fuck you!" Puck hears as he pushes open one of the bedroom doors at the end of the hallway. His cousin Benji is sitting in one of those bean bag chairs with a headset on and a controller in his hand.

As soon as he sees Puck he pauses the game and rips of the headset, "Hey."

Puck nods, "Sup, man."

Benji just shrugs, "Nothing."

The thing with Benji is … well, the two of them used to be really close when they were younger, when his aunt lived in Lima. They would do all this little kid stuff together, like play at the park and ride their bikes really fast down really big hills. And then Benji moved away and Puck discovered girls and they just kind of grew apart.

Okay, so maybe they didn't _grow apart_. Maybe Puck gave Benji a major brush off when he realized that he was a nerd and that nerds weren't cool to hang out with. He really can't help it that he's such a douche, he blames not having a strong father figure, or whatever.

"So, I guess we're rooming together then, huh?" Puck asks when he sees the air mattress that's rolled up in the corner of the room. Benji just shrugs again as he sinks a little lower into his bean bag.

"I … um … saw your cat … out there." Puck mumbles awkwardly, jerking his thumb back in the general direction of the living room. Benji gives him a blank stare and Puck's not too sure what to say because this whole situation is really fucking uncomfortable. It kind of feels like the morning after, when you want the really hot chick you just banged last night to leave, but you know she's going to want to talk or some stupid shit like that. Except Puck does not want to picture Benji naked and he's pretty much stuck with him so a month so he just better get over it because he has to share a room with him. And if Puck wants to defile those two girls like he was planning on, he and Benji are going to have to go over a little bit of the bro-code, like the whole hanging a sock on the door business.

"Alright, let's stop being little bitches." Puck announces, slapping his hands together and moving to stand in front of the TV. "I'll probably be having sex with a couple hot girls this summer and I might need the room to myself, so if there's a sock on the door, you'll know why."

"Whatever." Benji says, rolling his eyes and scooting over in his bean bag chair so he can see around Puck. The game un-pauses and the headset goes back on and Puck has a feeling that this conversation is over.

Well, it went a lot better than he thought it would.

– –

"Hey Mom, I'm going out!" Puck yells, trying to get to the front door before anyone can stop him. This house is really fucking depressing with its creepy paintings of cats and old person smell, which he doesn't understand because no old people live here. He feels bad for Benji, he really does.

"Wait, Noah! Kitchen!" his mom yells back just as he's about to open the door. This is a serious fuck his life moment, he was so close to freedom and now he's probably gonna have to go to a pottery class or some stupid shit like that.

"Yeah?" he asks, popping his head in the kitchen, he refuses to walk all the way in because that means that there's more of a possibility that they'll make him sit down.

"Where are you going?" she asks through her teeth. His Aunt Ava sets two steaming mugs down on the table before pulling up a seat and sitting down next to his mom. Then she pats the seat next to her.

"Have some tea with us, Noah."

"Uh, that's okay. I'm just gonna go out and check out everything." he says with a shrug and his mom finally smiles.

"That's good sweetheart. You should take your sister." Puck frowns, yeah, if he's going to be picking up hot chicks, he does not need his little sister tagging along. He's about to pull a really lame excuse out of his ass when he sees something in the backyard that makes him smile.

"Yeah, sure, but she seems a little busy." His mom and aunt both turn to look into the backyard where Sarah is chasing around a couple chickens. Puck is trying not to dwell on the fact that his aunt has chickens in her backyard because then he'll have to think about how much is life is going to suck this summer.

"Oh, Sarah! Be careful!" his mom yells as Sarah tries to pick one up. Puck shakes his head and takes this moment as an opportunity to bolt.

"I'll be back later!" he calls over his shoulder as he walks out the door. The screen slams behind with him a resounding thud and he ignores his mother yelling his name from the kitchen as he jogs down the front path. He's getting the fuck out of here before they tie him to one of the kitchen chairs and force him to look at naked baby pictures.

– –

There's not a lot to this town. There's like one bar that he could probably sneak into and an old arcade that look like it's seen better days, but nothing else that really catches his interest. He's going to die of fucking boredom this summer. He guesses he could probably go hang out on the lake since it's literally like i_right there_/i, but he doesn't really know what he'd do there. Like, go fishing, maybe.

There's a liquor store coming up and he decides to take a look inside and see what his chances are of stealing a pack of beer sometime this summer. There's this prick at the register with like perfectly coifed hair, reading a Hustler and paying absolutely no attention to the people in the store. Puck could totally steal beer from here, but it's his first day in town and he really doesn't want his mom to have to bail him out if he gets caught.

"You got slushies?" he asks the guy, who doesn't even bother to look up from his magazine as he motions vaguely to the back of the store.

"Thanks." Puck bits out, kind of irritated at the suck-ass service. He passes by the beer, just to see if they have anything good, they don't. He thinks his luck might be turning when he walks down the aisle with the slushie machine and sees a _really_ hot girl reaching for the lids that are like a foot above her head. She's got these shorts on that are like underwear, they're so short. Her bra strap is sliding down her shoulder and, goddamn, there is like sweat glistening and his pants start to feel a little tight. He cannot blow this, he needs to get himself under control, this girl could be his last hope for fun this summer.

He gets in really close behind her and leans down so his mouth is by her ear, "Need some help?" he asks in what he usually refers to as his sex voice.

The girl jumps, "Excuse me!" she shrills, elbowing him in the gut as she whips around. He doubles over, clutching his stomach, because damn that hurt, girls got some muscle on her. "Noah?"

Puck stops wheezing and looks up to see Rachel Berry, standing there with a grape slushie in her hand. This is a serious fuck his life moment.

"Shit, Rachel?" He just tried to spit game at Rachel fucking Berry. This shit only happens to him, he swears.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" Rachel crosses both arms over her chest, which makes her boobs practically pop out her top, and raises both brows at him.

"I asked you first."

"You did not." he mutters, rubbing at the spot on his stomach where she fucking pummeled him with her bazooka elbows. Rachel's eyebrows nearly disappear into her hairline and Puck relents.

"We're here visiting my aunt for the summer." he explains, reaching around her to grab a cup for himself. It's totally an accident when his arm brushes up against hers. "And trust me, I am not here on my own free will."

"No, I would imagine not." she comments as he fills his cup with Coke slushie. He grabs a lid for himself and one for her, he goes to hand it to her, but snatches it out of her grasp when she reaches for it.

"You still pissed at me for no reason?" Puck laughs at the outrage that flits over her face, she opens her mouth, ready to dispute, when he hands her the lid. She looks down on it with confusion at first, but her eyes soften and her mouth tilts upwards into a smile. He has no idea what just happened, but she doesn't look pissed anymore, so he decides not to question it.

"No, I guess I'm not."

"Good." he says with a nod as he pivots and heads down the aisle with the chips. "So, tell me, Berry. Why are _you_ here?"

"I already did, Noah. My fathers own a lake house out here."

"Oh, right." He really doesn't remember her telling him that at all, but then again, most of his time spent with Rachel is either him tuning her out or staring at her legs. "The slushies here as good as the ones by home?"

"I would say yes. Mostly because these slushies have never been tossed in my face." she answers, picking up a bag of pretzels as they make their way to the register. He feels a little pang of guilt, which he brushes away because he can't afford to feel guilty. About anything. If Puck felt guilty about all the shitty things he's done, he would probably hate himself. And that would really fucking suck, 'cause to be honest, he's like his favorite person ever. And no, he doesn't care if that sounds conceited 'cause it's true.

They both clear their throats, loudly and at the same time after they've been waiting at the register for awhile, and the douche finally peeks at them over his magazine.

"Oh, God." he hears Rachel mutter next to him and when he turns to look at her, he sees she's trying to hide her face.

"Well, well, Rachel Berry, do my eyes deceive me? Look who finally … filled out … kind of." The guy drawls, looking Rachel up and down. Puck kind of moves a little more in front of her, suddenly feeling extremely territorial.

"Pierce." she grounds out, her jaw clenching, Puck think it's one of the hottest things he's ever seen her do. The two of them have this weird _vibe_ between them and he has a feeling they know each other pretty well. They kind of stare at each other for a few seconds in an awkward silence and Puck is starting to feel a little bit ignored, which just does not fly with him.

"So I take it you two know each other." He observes as he fishes out his wallet and tosses a five dollar bill on the counter.

Pierce nods, "I guess you could say that."

"Oh yeah, wanna clue me in?" Puck prompts and when all the prick does is smirk at Rachel, he turns to face her, "Berry?"

"Hm? Oh! Pierce and I have known each other since we were very small."

"Yeah, Rachel used to come up and visit every summer before she got too … _busy_."

"We went to music camp together." she adds, dismissing it as nothing with a wave of her hand. Pierce frowns at her and then gets this smug look on his face as he takes the five bucks Puck put on the counter.

"And I was her first kiss." Now that's something that Puck can take interest in.

"Really? Huh, Rachel's never mentioned you, have you Rach?" he asks, grabbing the change and stuffing it back into this wallet. He turns to look at her when she doesn't answer and she shakes her head.

"No, I didn't really see a reason to ..."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Pierce asks in what's probably his best douchetastically condescending voice.

"Puck." he answers with a nod. "I go to school with Berry here back in Lima."

"I see, taking a vacation together then?"

"Nah, just a happy coincidence."

"Well, since you're both here, you might as well come to a party I'm throwing at my grandparents house. They're out of town for the weekend and well, let's face it, there's not much else to do around here." he mumbles as he grabs the pen from behind his ear and jots down some directions on the back of their receipt. "It's should be starting around eight tonight."

Puck takes the receipt from him, "Yeah, sure. We'll think about it." He has no idea why all of a sudden it's like Rachel is ihis/i or something, 'cause she's not, but this douchebag is getting on his nerves. "Come on, Rach."

"Bye." she says quietly as she grabs her slushie from Puck and follows him out of the door. She waits till their outside before she starts laughing.

"Well, that was entertaining."

"What?"

"What just transpired back there between you and Pierce? It was like a testosterone-fest, a classic exemplification of alpha male posturing."

"Alpha male what?" Puck asks as Rachel walks over to a beat up old convertible Bug. She tosses her bag of pretzels into the passengers side seat and holds up her slushie as she walks around to the drivers side.

"Thanks for the snacks."

"Wait, what about the party?" he asks, leaning against the side of the car as Rachel gets in.

She shrugs one shoulder, "What about it?"

"Don't you want to go?"

She sighs, placing both hands on top of the steering wheel, "I don't think Quinn would appreciate the two of us going to a party together, would she?"

Puck rubs furiously at his face, "Yeah, about that. There isn't really a … Quinn and I anymore." Rachel perks up slightly, leaning forward in the seat just far enough that he can see down her shirt.

"I'm sorry, Noah. What happened?"

"Nothing. Just didn't work out." He answers shortly and she nods once, then leans her head back against the worn leather of the seat. She blows out a steady stream of air before sitting up straight again and nodding.

"Okay, we can go, but I'll need to be home by eleven."

"I think I can do that." he murmurs, pushing himself up off the car. Rachel smiles brightly at him as she revs up the engine.

"Pick me up at seven."

"Okay. Hey- Rach?" she pauses to look at him and he takes a second to really look at her. She looks different out here, calmer, happier, maybe even free. He's never seen her hair like it is now, up in a loose bun with tendrils falling in her face, he likes it.

"Will Finn mind that the two of us are going to a party together?"

Rachel's face drops and she looks really sad for a second before she shakes her head, "Well let's just say there's not a Finn and I anymore either."

"Okay then, let's go to a party." he grins, his voice hoarse for some reason. That mega-watt smile is back in place as she she pulls out of the parking space and he laughs as the car jerks around. He's going to have to teach Rachel how to drive a stick, the right way.

"Seven o'clock, don't forget!" she calls out as she drives way, the car sputtering as she does.

Yeah, he has a feeling he's going to be working on that car a lot this summer.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: So ... here's chapter two! Enjoy!_

_Many thanks to my super duper beta, Mell and to Vette, who did some extra hand holding along the way. _

_

* * *

_

Puck refuses to leave the house before seven-fifteen, mostly because Rachel has been sending him text messages, non-stop, reminding him to be at her house by seven. The party isn't until eight, what the fuck are they going to do for a whole hour before then? Then he thinks Rachel might have died or something because she stopped texting him about twenty minutes before seven and now he keeps checking his phone, waiting to see if she notices that it's five minutes after and he's still not there.

You know, when he thinks about it, he doesn't really ever remember giving Rachel his number, not even when they were _dating. _And now all of a sudden she has it and it's kind of creeping him out. He feels like she hijacked his phone when he wasn't looking and called herself from it so she could save his number. It would explain all the text messages he got during the school year reminding him what time glee rehearsal was, he always just figured it was Mr. Schuester.

"You look like a douche." Benji comments as he walks into the room and plops himself down on his bean bag chair. Puck glances at him over his shoulder before looking at himself in the mirror, he's changed his shirt like three times in the last ten minutes for exactly that reason.

"Well, which shirt makes me look like less of a douche?" he asks as he reaches for a red polo and holds it up in front of him.

"No, not that one."

Puck reaches for a blue button up.

"Not that one either."

Scowling, he grabs the plain black t-shirt that he was going to wear in the first place.

"Definitely not that one."

"What the fuck, man! I only have so many shirts!"

"You know, actually, I don't think changing your shirt is going to help with the whole looking like a douche thing." Benji concedes and turns his attention back to his video game.

"You're a dick." Puck mutters as he pulls off his shirt and grabs his black and white baseball t-shirt.

"So, who's the girl?" Benji asks, keeping his eyes trained on the TV.

Puck looks up from putting on his belt, "What girl?"

"The one you're getting all dressed up for, dumbass."

"Fuck you, I'm not getting dressed up for anyone."

"Is it a date or should I just look for a sock on my door tonight?"

Puck freezes, there is no way in _hell_ he's going on a date with Rachel tonight. Dates involve all sorts of extra shit, like dinner before the party and picking her up, which he's only doing because she told him too.

Fuck, what if Rachel thinks this is a date?

"It's not a date." he mumbles as he stuffs his wallet and cellphone into his pants pocket. He'd know if it was a date, Puck does not get blindsided into these kinds of things.

"Keep telling yourself that!" Benji yells as Puck walks out of the room. There's a green and yellow Nerf football sitting on his cousin's dresser and before Puck even realizes what he's doing, he's grabbing it and throwing it straight at the back of Benji's head. It ricochets off his right temple and bounces against the TV, Benji starts to turn his head and Puck swears he's about to pull a full on Exorcist.

"You're a fucking dick."

Puck just grins smugly at him before waving his fingers and pulling the door shut; he hears the ball thud against it as soon as it's closed. His mom gave him the keys to her Jetta before she and his aunt left for going to happy hour at that local bar he saw earlier. She made him leave his truck back in Lima, he thinks it's because she's trying to trap him into more _family time_.

Rachel doesn't live too far from the main part of town; it's about a fifteen minute drive, so by the time he gets there it's _way_ past seven. She still hasn't texted him or anything, so he thinks that she may not have noticed. Or is lying in a ditch somewhere. He kind of really hopes it's the first one.

When he pulls up to the house he almost shits a brick. He forgot that the Berry's make some serious bank and their lake house is a testament to that. It's fucking huge, with like floor to ceiling windows, some of them in the shape of triangles. The whole front of the house is like one huge triangle and the lake (which is right by their house, like walk outside and there it is) reflects off the all the glass, making the house look like it's shimmering.

"Damn." is all he can say. Why couldn't he be staying here for the summer?

– –

Rachel is kind of having a hard time digesting the fact that she's going to a party with Noah Puckerman tonight. In what universe does this happen? Not hers. And it's _not a date_, they're simply two people who are fairly well acquainted with each other and are going to attend a party together. Also, it's not like he knows anyone else in this town, so really, what other options does he have for a Friday night other than to hang out with her?

She's changed her outfit so many times in the past half hour that she's lost track. She has no idea what the appropriate attire is for this type of social engagement. Does she wear a dress? She doubts it's a formal affair, but still a nice sundress might be suitable. Or she could wear jeans and a pretty blouse, but perhaps that's too laid back or not sexy enough. Not that anything she owns is sexy in the slightest. She's back to jean shorts and an old and worn t-shirt when her phone buzzes on her dresser. Glancing at her watch, she gasps and practically dives across her bed and rolls over it to get to her phone.

"Please don't be here yet, please don't be here yet." she chants as she flips open her phone to see a text from Puck that reads _Outside. u ready? _No, she is not ready, but she can't just leave him waiting out there.

"Rachel, sweetheart." her father says as he wanders into her room. "Now, I don't know if you're aware of this, but there is an extremely handsome young man standing in our front yard."

"Yes, I know, daddy." she breathes as she pulls off her gross t-shirt and digs through her dresser for a decent one. "That's Noah."

"It is?" he asks, clearly surprised. "Hm, I didn't recognize him without that offending strip of hair on his head. Should I invite him in?"

"No!" she yelps, pulling out the white tank top she was grabbing and clutching it to her chest. "I-I mean, no. I should be ready in like two minutes. So-" She pulls the tank top on over her head and hurriedly combs her fingers through her hair. Her skin is sticky with sweat from running around for the past half hour, but she knows it'll be cold later tonight so she grabs a cardigan from the back of her closet.

"That's what you're wearing?" Her father asks, sounding rather unimpressed. Rachel scowls at him as she gathers her hair into a messy ponytail and secures it with a bright pink elastic. She's been primping for over an hour and half and now Puck is here and she's still not completely ready

"Yes, daddy. This is what I'm wearing." She breaths as she spritzes a little perfume onto her wrists and then behind her ears.

"Oh, well- it's a little … drab for a party, don't you think?"

"Daddy, I really don't have a lot of time to think right now. It's already almost forty minutes after I told Noah to pick me up and Pierce's grandparents live on the other side of town." she says, all in one breath as she buckles up he sandals.

Her daddy raises a brow at her. "Yes, speaking of Pierce. I thought you were going to this party with him?"

"No. I said he was throwing the party." she's stuffing as many things as she can into her small bag. "You know I can't stand Pierce, daddy."

"I know, you two just used to be so close- I don't think that's going to fit, Rachel." Rachel looks down at the small flashlight she's trying to fit into her bag, there's not much room left, but this flashlight could really come in handy in case there's a blackout or they're stranded somewhere and it's dark.

"Fine." she mumbles and tosses it to the side. She pulls the strap of her bag over her head and adjusts it so it fits comfortably against her body. "I'll be back by eleven, midnight the latest." she says with a kiss on the check.

"All right, well have fun!" her daddy calls as she rushes down the stairs. "Maybe try to be a normal teenager for once and do some underage drinking!" he continues with a chuckle.

"Daddy!" Rachel admonishes, stopping halfway down the stairs to send a shocked look back towards her father. He simply shrugs and laughs and Rachel thinks that maybe he's lost his mind. She takes one look at herself in the mirror of the foyer and pouts, her whole appearance is still unsatisfactory, but her phone buzzes again in her pocket and she knows she can't go back upstairs and change.

When she walks outside, there's a car parked in front of her house that she's never seen before and Puck is leaning against it, looking painfully bored.

"Hi." she says, out of breath. He grins at her and she gets this feeling in her stomach, like she's going to throw up, but in a good way.

"You look nice, Berry." he comments as she walks over to him and she ignores the little voice in the back of her mind that's telling her _this is a date_.

It's not a date, it's not.

But then he opens the door for her and she's just in total awe of him, "Oh-well- thank you." she stumbles over her words awkwardly. It's like a completely new and well-mannered Noah Puckerman.

The drive is awkward and they don't talk much except when she gives him directions on how to get there. At one point, they both reach for the radio at the same time and his fingers skim over hers, it feels like he's electrically charged. They both snatch their hands away and the radio doesn't get turned on, so things are pretty much silent except for the hum of the engine and the wind that's seeping in through the cracked windows.

"This place is kinda far, huh?" Puck murmurs as he turns onto a narrow dirt path. Rachel bobs her head in agreement and tucks her legs underneath up on the seat. She's about to say something, what she doesn't remember because when she turns to look at him, Puck is silhouetted against golden light from the sun setting behind him. She thinks it's silly that she can go from thinking he's the most infuriating boy on the planet to being completely taken with him.

And he's not with Quinn anymore and she's not with Finn, so really, what's stopping her?

"Berry?" he asks, snapping his fingers in front of her face. "You gonna give me directions or just make eyes at me all night?"

Oh, right, the part where they can barely stand each other is stopping her.

"Sorry." she says, turning to face the front with her nose in the air. "Just follow this path for a couple more minutes and it should take you right to the house."

It takes less than a couple minutes, more like forty-five seconds, before they're pulling up in front of Pierce's grandparents house. She smiles up at it as she climbs out of the Jetta, it's exactly the way she remembers it, except now it has a ton of kids loitering in the front yard.

"Damn, nice house." Puck comments with a low whistle and Rachel just shrugs. The party is in full swing now, she's assuming. There's a couple making out on the porch swing and a few others with red plastic cups in their hands, just standing around outside.

"This is kind of liberating." she announces, Puck raises an eyebrow at her and she simply shrugs. "Think about it, here we don't have to be ourselves. No one even knows us, I mean- we could be anyone."

"Can we be Bonnie and Clyde?"

She rolls her eyes, "No."

Puck just chuckles as they walk towards the house and then he throws an arm around her shoulder, tucking her into his side. And that little voice in the back of her head that's telling her this is a date? Yes, well it's screaming now.

– –

Puck doesn't think he's ever seen this much beer at one time in his entire life, there's like four kegs and two of them haven't even been tapped yet. And he thinks he's found Van Isle's hot girl supply, they're all hiding out here in the sticks.

"I'm gonna get us some drinks." Puck says before dropping his arm from around Rachel's shoulder and hurrying off towards the keg.

"But Noah, I really don't think-" he tunes her out as he makes his way through the crowd of people. He turns his head when he feels someone tugging on the sleeve of his shirt and it's Rachel, clinging onto him for dear life. He just shakes his head and laughs as he grabs her hand and pulls her in front of him, resting his hands on her waist as he steers her through the crowd.

"Here we are." He says as they come to a halt in front of the keg.

Rachel eyes it warily, "What is it?"

He blinks, "It's a keg."

"What does it do?"

"Are you serious? You don't know what a keg is?"

"Well, it's not like I've ever encountered one before."

"It's a keg, Berry. You've never watched a movie or seen a TV show where they've had a keg at a party?"

"Ohhh, _that _kind of keg?" she drawls and Puck thinks she's finally got it before she scowls at him, "No."

"You're life is pathetic." He remarks and then nods at the guy standing next to the keg, who begins to fill a cup.

"What's in it?"

"Beer."

"Oh, I don't think I like beer."

"You've never had beer."

"So?"

"How do you know you don't like it if you've never tried it?" he asks, taking the cup from the guy and taking a sip. "It's good." he murmurs and waves it under her nose.

"It smells foul." she complains, cringing and angling her head away.

"Well, look who showed up." Pierce leers, sauntering up to them and looking like the douchebag that he is.

"Oh, joy." Rachel mutters sarcastically before plastering on a big fake smile. "Pierce. This is a lovely party."

Puck raises his cup to him in a mock toast, "One of the best I've ever been too."

"Piercy!" a voice shrills and a tall blonde girl comes bounding across the room and throws herself on Pierce.

"And things just keep getting better and better." Rachel says to herself, but Puck catches it and gives her a questioning look. She just shakes her head and smiles at the girl who's now hanging off of Pierce.

"Kylie, nice to see you again."

The girl smiles viciously, "Rachel, we both know you don't mean that."

Rachel snorts, "No, I really don't." Puck grins at her, he's never seen Rachel be this openly bitchy to someone before. It's kind of hot.

"Who's your friend?" Kylie asks, smacking her gum and then biting on her lip. The girl is undressing him with her eyes, Puck can tell.

He clears his throat, "Puck."

"That a nickname or something?"

"Yeah, or something." They all stand there awkwardly for a moment, Puck is staring at Rachel and so is Pierce and she's just kind of staring at the floor. Kylie is staring at Puck, but he doesn't really care. She reminds him a little too much of an ex-girlfriend, to be honest.

"Well-" Rachel says suddenly, looking up at Puck, "I think we should go and find me some sort of drink."

Puck nods, "Sure thing." Rachel looks so uncomfortable that he doesn't even say anything when she grabs his hand, lacing her fingers with his, and drags him away. "You okay?" he whispers, leaning in from behind her after they're a few feet away from Pierce. She just nods absently as they make their way to the kitchen where there are about a dozen kids rooting through the refrigerator.

"I have to use the restroom." she announces randomly, her eyes darting back and forth, looking anywhere but at him.

"Uh … okay well … do you want me to .. get you a drink?" he asks, kind of worried about her change of mood. Something about that Kylie girl and Pierce was obviously getting to her, but then she shoots him one of her _Rachel_ smiles, the one he knows means that she's really happy.

"Yes, that would be great. Nothing to strong though." She instructs and then bounces up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. He just stands there stupidly for a moment, trying to process exactly what the fuck in going on in her head.

He's been trying to deny it all night, but he thinks he might just be on a fucking date with Rachel Berry.

– –

She feels like she can't breathe, seeing Pierce and Kylie together has brought back some of her worst insecurities. Back when Rachel used to visit regularly, she and Pierce had been really close, but then Kylie moved to town one summer and it was like he completely forgot she existed. It hurt more than she'd ever like to admit, especially since Pierce was what she considers her first boyfriend. But she's here with Puck and Puck isn't running off and ditching her for a leggy blonde.

There's a lot more people at this party than she expected and she was starting to feel a little claustrophobic out there among the masses. She splashes some cold water on her face to try and calm and cool herself down. After she's toweled her faced off, she starts primping, applying a fresh coat of mascara and apply a little bit of lipstick to her cheeks as a substitute for blush.

"Get yourself under control, Rachel." she tells herself as she blends in the lipstick, scrubbing a little too harshly at her cheek. She wonders if Puck is feeling the same way she is right now, wondering if there may be something more between them. She's only been broken up with Finn for a couple weeks, but she thinks that this thing with Puck could be worthwhile. She knows all of the _physical _aspects of their relationship work and if tonight is any indication, they may just be able to function as a normal couple. And she likes Puck, she really does. He's sweet and charming, most of the time, and he makes her laugh. And she feels safe with him, like nothing bad could ever happen.

She laughs at herself and tucks a loose piece of hair behind her ear, she might be getting a little ahead of herself. They're not even technically on a date tonight. She takes in a deep breath before opening the door and launching herself back into the party. The kitchen has cleared out a little so she immediately notices that Puck is standing there and flirting with some redheaded bimbo. She feels something like jealousy and hurt bubble up from her stomach and her chin starts to wobble annoyingly like it does when she feels like crying.

There's no point in watching this scene unfold when she already knows what's going to happen. Puck will probably turn on his charm and then the girls underwear will magically fly off and they'll be upstairs fornicating in no time.

Rachel walks back into the living room, trying to squeeze her way through the throng of people so she can get to the couch. All she wants to do is sit there and try not to think about how awful this evening is turning out to be.

"Hey, where's your boyfriend?" Pierce asks, appearing at her side from out of no where. Rachel elbows her way past a couple making out and shoots him a look over her shoulder.

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Really? Cause he kind of seemed like your boyfriend."

"Well, he's not."

"Huh, well … that's good to know." he says as he quickly steps in front of her and shoves a shot glass in her face. "Brandy?"

She turns up her nose, "No thanks." she replies snootily and pushes past him. There's a couple making out horizontally on the couch and Rachel squeezes in next to them. There's just couples being coupley everywhere and gets starting to grate on her nerves.

"Excuse me!" she shrieks when the girls foot nearly kicks her in the face. She's about this close to giving up on this whole evening and calling her dads when a couple of boys set down a tray of cute little jello cups in front of her.

"Is that grape jello?" she asks, leaning forward to inspect them. The boys glance at each other and then burst into a fit of laughter as one of them nods.

"It sure is."

Rachel scowls at them as she grabs two of the little cups and then, in a very unladylike manner, slurps one up.

"It's good." she says with a mouth full of jello and the guys lift the tray off the coffee table and sit down in front of her.

"You want some more?" they ask excitedly, taking her now empty jello cups and replacing them with full ones. She takes them greedily, setting them on her lap as she downs them one and a time.

"These are exceptional, what's in them?"

The boys smirk at each other, "Just a secret ingredient."

– –

It takes Puck awhile before he realizes that Rachel hasn't came back from the bathroom and it's been nearly an hour. He kind of got distracted by this really hot redhead who came up to him and started talking to him, he's not too sure about what because he was staring at her tits for the majority of the time. Then she kind of realized that all he was doing was staring at her boobs and stormed off, but it's not like he really cared what she was talking about.

It's only after the girl has left and he glances down at his hand that he notices that Rachel is totally M.I.A since he still has her Smirnoff ice. He goes to look for the bathroom and finds it along with a huge line waiting outside the door.

"You know who's in there?" He asks the first dude in line. The guy shrugs as he shifts his weight from one foot to the other, obviously he needs to take a piss badly.

"I dunno, some chick."

Puck nods and then taps on the door with the top of the Smirnoff bottle, "Rach, you in there?" he asks and all he hears is retching noises. Pierce waltzes by just as he's about to knock again.

"You looking for the lovely Miss Berry?" he asks and when Puck nods he points towards the living room. "She's thatta way. Better go now before she gets herself into some serious shit."

"What?" Puck asks, confused, but Pierce is already walking away. He hands the Smirnoff to some random kid waiting in line for the bathroom and makes his way towards the living room. There's this huge group of people circled around something that Puck can't see, and then he nearly flips his shit when Rachel is hoisted into the air on top of some guys shoulders. She sees him almost immediately and waves excitedly.

"Noah!" she squeals, holding out her arms to balance herself as she almost topples forward. He barrels through everyone to get to her before she falls and like … gets brain damaged or something.

"Berry, what the fuck are you doing up there?"

"We're going to do a keg stand!" she cries happily, leaning forward and motioning to the metal keg on the coffee table in front of her.

"Uh, yeah, I don't think so." he murmurs, taking a few steps around the table so he's closer to her and the guy who's shoulders she's sitting on.

She sits up straighter and pouts at him, "Why not?

"Because."

"Because why?" she taunts with a smug little grin. When he doesn't answer she pats the guy's head. "Come on, lets go!"

Puck intervenes before the dude drops her or, God forbid, she actually does a keg stand. He grabs one of the arms she has outstretched and then pulls her down and slings her over his shoulder.

"No-ah!" she whines, hitting his back as he carries her through the house. "I am not some … _rag doll _for you to drag around whenever you'd like! Put me down, right now!"

"Fucking hell, you're drunk." he says to himself, they reach the front door and he nods at the girl standing next to it. "You mind?"

"Oh, sure." she says quickly, opening the door for him.

Rachel giggles and pushes herself up slightly, "Bye you guys!" she calls before flopping back down so she's hanging limply from his shoulder. The house is right on the lake, so Puck carries her over a small hill and then sets her down on an old picnic table that's sitting right by the water.

"Whoa." she breaths, swaying back and forth. "I feel dizzy."

He chuckles as he shakes his head, "How much did you drink?"

She frowns and juts out her lower lip, "Nothing!"

"I'm finding that kind of hard to believe, Berry."

"I didn't drink anything. And how do you even know I'm drunk? Maybe I'm just finally … loosening up!"

"Yeah, not buying it."

She takes her index finger and touches it against his nose, "Why do you even care about me when you have a big-breasted red head with a fake tan waiting for you inside, hmmm?"

Puck pauses, "... Sounding kinda jealous there, Rach."

Rachel scoffs, "As if! It was just kind of rude of you to completely abandon me-"

"I didn't abandon you! You went to the bathroom and never came back!"

"Well, I saw that you were busy and didn't want to... intrude."

"Yeah, right. So what happened after you saw me with that girl?"

She thinks about it for a moment, tapping her fingers against her chin, "Well, I ran into Pierce and he was annoying, as usual. And then I sat down on the couch and these guys came by with some jello and I ate a lot of that. It was quite good actually, I wonder if there's anymore..."

"Wait, you did jello shots?"

"Is that they're called?"

"You know they have booze in them, right?"

"They do not! It's a special _secret _ingredient!"

"Yeah … probably vodka."

"Oh." she says weakly, but then bounces back quickly, grinning at him happily. "Does this mean I'm drunk?"

"It means you're wasted."

"Hmmm ..." she hums, her fingers dancing along his shoulders and down his biceps. "I think I like being wasted."

"Yeah, well you're not gonna like it in the morning."

"Oh! Noah, let's dance!" she jumps down off the table, taking his hand and dragging him towards the water's edge.

"What? Why? You know I don't dance, Berry."

"You dance all the time in Glee."

"That's cause I have to." he murmurs, groaning as she places his hands at her waist and then sets hers on top of his shoulders.

"Well, I'm saying you have to now." They don't really dance, just kind of sway back and forth; after awhile Rachel's head starts to droop and he brings her a little closer so that her head is resting in the crook of his neck.

"I think you're a wonderful dancer, Noah."

"Thanks, I try." he says tiredly, how he ended up in a situation like this, he doesn't fucking know.

"My face feels hot."

"That's cause you're drunk."

"Noah-" she starts, lifting her head to look at him. Her eyes are gleaming and her cheeks are pink and he most definitely knows what's about to happen next.

"Turn that way." he instructs, Rachel obeys quickly and the next second she's totally ralphing into a bush. He holds her hair back for her and turns his head away, cringing at the sound. Usually at this point of the evening he bolts, but this is _Rachel_ and he doesn't really want to leave her here, completely trashed and puking into a bush.

"You good?" he asks when she's stopped heaving and she nods as she stands up straight.

"Uh-huh."

"You want to sit?"

"Yeah." she pants and he guides her over to the bench. She sits slowly, holding her stomach, and then lays down with her knees curled up to her chest. "Oh, that was unpleasant."

"For both of us." he remarks, kneeling down so that he's level with her, and she lightly punches him on the chest. "You okay?"

She shakes her head, "No. I feel awful."

"Alright, well … let's get you home then." he says, standing up and holding out a hand to her. She ignores his hand and bolts straight up, causing her whole face to turn this really gross pale green color.

"No! I can't go home like this! My fathers will murder me!" she wheezes, clamping a hand over her mouth before she throws up. Puck fights off the urge to gag and sits next to her after she's stopped dry heaving.

"Well, what the fuck do you want me to do then?"

"Where's my bag?"

"Uh-right here." he tugs on the strap of her bag and she jumps like she just realized it was still there.

"Oh, right. Need my phone." she mumbles incoherently as she digs through her bag. "Front pocket, that's where it is."

"You okay there?" he rubs her back, trying to comfort her because she's basically on the verge of tears and Puck does not do well with crying girls.

"I can't find my phone." she sobs, turning to bury her face in his shoulder. "How are my dads supposed to know I'm doing to be home late if I can't even find my phone. I don't even know what time it is! What if I'm already past my curfew and they've already called the cops?" she wails, her tears leaking through his shirt.

He pats her head awkwardly, "Babe, it's barely ten-thirty, I think you're good."

"Are you sure?" her voice is muffled against her shirt and he chuckles, stroking the back of her head now.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll drive you around until you sober up, okay?"

"Noah, you can't drive, you've been drinking."

He sighs, "Not really."

"Driving while under the influence, _any influence_, is illegal!" she tells him seriously, even though she's still crying against his arm. Puck sighs again, letting his shoulders slump, it's not even half way through the night and he's already tired. "I'm sorry I ruined your evening, Noah."

"You didn't ruin anything, babe." he reassures, running his hand up and down her back, which for some reason only makes her cry harder. "Rachel, you gotta calm down, you're gonna make yourself sick again."

"Why are you being so sweet to me?" she wails, her head slips from his shoulder and lolls down his chest until she's slumped over with her head resting on his stomach. Of course, Rachel just had to be a fucking emotional drunk.

Puck leans back and rests his elbows on the old wood table; he tips his head back and looks up at the sky, there's so many stars out, it's kind of unbelievable. This is so not how he pictured his summer, if he was back in Lima, he'd probably be wasted right now, putting the moves on some random girl. Instead, he's sitting by a lake with Rachel Berry asleep on his stomach.

He swears this is the universe's way of saying _'Fuck you, Noah Puckerman.'_

Although there are worse things than hanging out with Rachel for a night. And he got to see her piss-drunk, which is probably like a once in a lifetime opportunity. He knows he can't take her home, her dads would probably flip the fuck out if their precious baby girl came home like this.

He carefully slips out from under her and very gently rests her head on the bench. He contemplates taking her back to the party and letting her sleep it off in a bedroom upstairs, but Pierce is there and he really hates that guy so he decides against it. He resorts to picking her up carefully and carrying her to his moms car, which is parked far enough away from the house that the noise doesn't carry.

"Shit." he mutters when he nearly drops her as he tries to get the car door open. Getting a passed out drunk girl into a car is not as easy as it seems. In fact, it's pretty fucking impossible, but he manages because he's just _that good_.

"You good?" he asks when she's all settled in, she mumbles something that sounds like _yes_ before turning her head away from him and curling up in a ball. He really carefully lowers the seat so she can lay down comfortably and then grabs his jacket from the backseat to cover her with.

He thinks that he might kind of have a soft spot for her, but no one is every finding out because she's- well, she's still _Rachel_, which is kind of a fucked up thing to think, he knows. Puck plops down in the drivers seat and pushes it all the way back so he's basically laying down and then he just, kind of, watches her sleep.

He's actually really tired by now, even though it's still early, and he doesn't mean to pass out before driving her home, but he totally does.

* * *

**Reviews are always appreciated. :)**

My tumblr - justanothersocialcasualty(dot)tumblr(dot)com


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Thanks once again to my beta Mell, you know I can't do shit without you. And thank you to my other beta, novice 242! _

_Disclaimer: I added this in chapter one, but just in case anyone is wondering. Van Isle is a fictional town I made up for the purpose of this story, it's not an actual place, at least not to my knowledge. Also, I know on the show, Rachel is a ~vegan, but for the purpose of this story, I've decided to take some liberties and ignore that. _

* * *

The next morning Puck wakes up to the sound of Rachel Berry having a full-blown panic attack.

"Oh, my God!" she yells and he cracks an eye open to see her scrambling in the seat, with her hair half out of her ponytail and all knotted up on one side.

"Looking good, Berry." he murmurs, his voice thick with sleep. She glances over at him, surprised, like it's the first time she noticed that he was in the car with her.

"Noah! What on Earth-what time is it?"

"Dunno." he shifts and tucks his hands behind head as he closes his eyes again. He's about to dose off when she smacks him on the stomach, hard. "Fuck!" he grunts, bolting straight up in his seat and turning to glare at her.

She scowls at him, "Please tell me there is a plausible excuse I can give to my fathers as to why I'm in your car and not my bed at ..." she reaches over and grabs his arm to look at his watch, "Five in the morning! Oh God-I stayed out all night?"

"Apparently." he says hoarsely, he keeps blinking at her, trying to get rid of the blurriness around his eyes. "To tell you the truth, B, as far as all nighters go, this one was kind of lame."

"Oh my God, it's all coming back to me now." she moans, flopping back down on the seat and dragging his jacket over her head. "I can't believe I almost did a keg stand." she says, her voice muffled.

"Yeah, neither can I."

Rachel props herself up on her elbows and his jacket slides down from her face, "I was drunk."

"Yep."

"Does that mean I'm hung over now?"

"I don't know, are you?" he deadpans, rolling his eyes when she takes a moment to think about it.

"It would explain the headache and urge to projectile vomit." she winces and shifts her weight to one arm so she can rub her forehead with the other. "Okay, well I should probably go home and face my demise."

"Don't you think you're being kinda dramatic?" he asks as he digs his car keys out of his pocket. The sun is just barely coming up, but it's already warm in the car and bright outside.

"No, I don't think I am! I don't think you understand the weight of this situation.I stayed out all night _with a boy_ and engaged in underage drinking! I'll be lucky if they don't crucify me!" she complains, her voice getting louder and louder.

Puck laughs, "You are like the most _awake _hung over person I've ever seen."

"I'm trying not to think about that. If I don't think about it, then it's not actually happening." She explains as she pops open his glove box and starts to dig around.

"I think that's called denial- what are you doing?"

"Looking for Advil … Excedrin … any type of pain reliever to help cure me of this miserable headache. Isn't your mother a nurse? Shouldn't she have these things at the ready in case of a situation like this?"

"Uh … no?"

"You're completely useless to me right now." she informs him, squinting against the rising sunlight that's pouring into the car. Puck just shakes his head, the bitch thing was hot last night, but right now it's kind of pissing him off.

"All right, we're gonna go get breakfast." he mutters as he starts the car.

She gapes at him, "What? Did you not hear me just now? I have to get home! My fathers are probably worried sick!"

"Look, I think I remember sending them a text from your phone last night telling them you'd be out late so-"

"Late? This is not late! This is early!"

"Dude, _chill out_." he says forcefully and when he's confident that she's not going to say anything, he puts the car in drive, "Okay, now we're gonna go get you some pancakes."

"Pancakes? Why pancakes?"

"Hang over food, baby, keep up."

– –

"The smell alone is making me nauseous." Rachel complains as the waitress at a diner a couple miles out of town slides a plate of bacon and fried eggs in front of her. The whole of her head feels like it's been repeatedly pounded on by tiny jackhammers and her stomach churns at even the idea of eating anything.

"Eat the pancakes then." Puck says through a mouthful of hash browns. Rachel prods at the yolk of one of the eggs with her fork, watching as yellow goo oozes out of one side. "Don't make me force feed you, Berry."

Rachel glances up to see him devouring a piece of bacon and she cringes, "You're a pig."

Puck just winks at her as he reaches for his glass of orange juice. She wants someone to dim the lights so she can eat her pancakes without squinting; she cuts them into tiny neat squares and slowly takes a bit, it's starchy and rough on her tongue and she nearly spits it back out. But then, miraculously, after she forces herself to take bite after bite of the starchy cake, she starts to feel a little better.

"I thought the cure for a hangover was some vile concoction that included raw eggs?" she asks as she breaks off a piece of toast and dips it into her eggs.

Puck shrugs, "That's only for the _really _bad ones. Trust me, you're not there yet."

She smiles, biting her lip before shyly glancing back down at her food, "Thank you, Noah."

"For what?" he has his mouth full of food again and she just shakes her head. This whole situation is bizarre, it's like they really are completely different people. He's being sweet and caring and, to be quite honest, she's a little flustered by it.

"For … coming to my aid last night."

He dismisses it with a wave of his hand, "Whatever. It was worth it. Probably the only time I'll ever see you trashed."

She scowls, "You're so crass."

Puck gives her a toothy grin as he continues to chew his food obnoxiously. Rachel wants to ask him what exactly happened last night, she vaguely recalls throwing up in a bush and then crying for no apparent reason. She doesn't ask though, mostly because there's that feeling of insecurity that tells her he's going to mock her incessantly. Plus, she really doesn't want to relive her night of shame and she'd rather not dwell on the mistakes of the past, she won't be getting drunk again anytime in the foreseeable future.

– –

Puck drops her off a couple minutes before seven with a severe pat on the back that almost makes her lose her breakfast. She takes a moment before going inside to gather her courage; she knows that when her father told her to partake in some underage drinking, he didn't mean stay out all night. They're probably furious with her. She thinks maybe she can sneak in without them noticing, since they enjoy sleeping in on the weekends. With a deep breath, she slowly walks up the front steps to her house and quietly unlocks the door.

Her plan fails miserably when she opens the door to find both of her fathers sitting in the living room, drinking their morning coffee and reading the newspaper.

"Rachel? What- are you _just _getting home?" her daddy asks, surprise and maybe even a little admiration written all over his face.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?" he dad asks, setting his coffee cup down on the table and leaning forward slightly, she feels like every inch of her face is under scrutiny.

"Dear God, are you … _hung over_ ?" her daddy asks, realization seeming to have dawned on him finally.

Her dad looks over at him in shock and then back at Rachel, "You _drank_?"

Rachel sighs listlessly, "Yes, I drank. Yes, I'm hung over. Congratulations, I am now a normal teenager. Now, if you'll excuse me," she says as she makes her way towards the stairs and begins to inch up them, " -I need to go vomit."

– –

Puck doesn't even bother sneaking into his house; he knows his mom is going to be waiting for him. She's really pissed off and he listens to her spew bullshit for about five minutes before dropping Rachel's name and sure enough, it shuts her up. Her eyes get all big and then kind of glazed over and he knows she's probably already planning their wedding and naming their kids. He takes the opportunity to disappear into Benji's room while his mom tells his aunt all about the nice Jewish girl from back home.

Benji isn't in there so he plops down on his bed instead of the air mattress that was obviously set up for him. He's actually really tired, considering he only got like six hours of sleep last night, which is no-where near the ten he's gotten used to this summer. But, instead of crashing, he just kind of ends up staring at the ceiling for awhile, laughing to himself as he thinks about what the fuck happened last night.

It's not like- Puck doesn't have anything against Rachel, okay? She's cool for the most part and she's been really awesome out here, away from everyone, but, this is just really not how he planned on spending his summer. There was supposed to be _a dozen _hot chicks, not just one and he was supposed to get wasted and let someone else drag his ass home, not the other way around.

And now that his mom knows that Rachel's out here, no doubt she'll try and push them together at all costs. Which he doesn't mind, as long as it's on his own terms. Rachel is still a hot chick, he guesses, there's no use in wasting that.

He doesn't even realize that he passed out until his phone starts ringing really loudly. He fumbles around blindly before he realizes that he's still in his clothes from last night and that his phone is in his pants pocket. He doesn't know why the fuck someone would be calling him this early, but it's not exactly early, it's probably like noon already.

"Lo?" he answers sleepily when he finds his phone, rubbing at his eyes as he roll over onto his back.

"I hate you for doing this to me!" Rachel whines loudly, making Puck instantly regret picking up the phone. He runs a hand down his face, digging his palm a little into his right eye before sitting up and leaning back against the headboard.

"What are you talking about? I wasn't the one pouring jello shots down your throat. You did that all on your own, babe." he mumbles, still attempting to fully wake up. Second fucking time today he's been woken up like this, and FYI? It sucked enough the first time.

"Please, Noah. How do I make it stop?" He laughs, he knows exactly what her problem is, She has one of those massive hangover headaches.

"Take two Advil and drink a lot of water." he says hoarsely, sinking a little lower onto the bed. He glances over to see Benji sitting in his bean bag chair, playing Call of Duty. Puck rolls his eyes, it's like the kid never leaves his room.

"... Noah?" Rachel asks softly and he shifts in the bed, getting comfortable again.

"Yeah?"

"I-well … horrid hangover aside, I had fun last night."

"... Me too." he says after a second. Benji's muttering to himself and then stands up and yells when the screen flashes red and he dies.

"... Noah?" Rachel asks hesitantly and her voice seems so little. She doesn't sound like the Rachel Berry he's used to at all.

"Yeah, babe?"

"You know … since we know each other … and we're both here for the summer … maybe we could … try and spend some time together?"

He grins like an idiot, it's times like this when he thinks she's so goddamn adorable, "Sure, Rach."

"Really?"

"Mm-hm." he hums as he starts to fall back asleep, jumping when Benji throws his controller at the TV.

"Great! Would you maybe want to start that … today?"

He glances over at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It's barely noon and Puck does not plan on getting out of bed anytime soon." … Make it tonight and you got yourself a deal."

– –

Rachel is only mildly freaking out and it's not because for a split second, before she hung up with Puck, she thought he said _date _instead of _deal_. No, it's because after they hung up she sent him a text and told him to be at her place by seven so they could watch movies. Except she has no idea what kind of movies Noah Puckerman likes; most of their previous relationship was spent doing anything but engaging in actual conversation.

She has no idea what she's doing or why she invited him over. This whole summer has been so unexpected, coming up here to Van Isle and then running into Puck and then getting _drunk_. She was planning to spend this summer mooning over Finn and attempting to drown her sorrows over being freshly single in a vat of ice cream. But now she has Puck here and she thinks that she really likes spending time with him. He's not what she's used to, obviously, he's not courteous or well-mannered, but there's just something about him.

She makes a promise to herself as she stands in the frozen food section of the mini-mart, this summer she will not fall in love with Noah Puckerman. Or she'll try her hardest at least, she knows that she's already starting to like him more and more. But she _just _broke up with Finn and she just doesn't want Puck to ever be her rebound.

There's a chance that she's going to become completely infatuated with him, just because he deigns to spend some time with her this summer. It's a bad habit she's picked up from years of being thrown into situations where she feels like she needs to grasp onto anything or anyone that approves of her in even the slightest.

She picks up two frozen pizzas, one vegetarian and one with everything, and then chocolate chip cookie dough that she can bake for later. She's fairly certain that chocolate chip are Puck's favorite and she's knows her dads like them as well, so she's not going to bake them just for him. Once she's gotten the food portion of the evening out of the way, Rachel heads across the street to the video store. That's what she loves about this town, everything is in walking distance from each other and everyone knows her and says hello. She came here every summer from when she was two until she was thirteen; it feels a little more like home than Lima probably ever will.

"Hello there, gorgeous." Rachel cringes at the sound of Pierce's voice and turns slowly to look at him. He grins and then reaches for the DVD in her hand, "_Pineapple Express_ … now that movie just screams Rachel Berry."

She snatches the DVD away before he can take it, "I'm broadening my cinematic horizons." she answers smartly, turning away from him and tucking the DVD under her arm. She knows Puck likes it; he and Finn quote it all the time and look at her like she's stupid if she doesn't get their references. In an effort to get away from Pierce and also find a movie for herself, she quickly sidesteps around him and nearly jogs over to the musical section. Their selection is limited, but they have Funny Girl and it's the only movie she forgot to bring with her from home.

"Now see, that's more of a Rachel movie."

"What do you want Pierce?" she asks through her teeth, just being in close proximity with him is making her skin crawl.

"Just wanted to see how you were doing after last night." he says with a shrug, sticking his hands in his shorts pockets and just looking … smug.

"I'm fine. Now if you'll excuse me-" she pushes his past him and sets the DVDs on the counter as she picks out some candy that she thinks Puck might like.

"You hate Milk Duds." Pierce interjects as she goes to grab a box. Her hand pauses over them before grabbing one and tossing it on the counter next to her DVDs.

She sighs, "They're not for me."

"Ah, I see. For the boyfriend then?"

"He's not my boyfriend, Pierce." Rachel answers tiredly, this routine is getting tedious and honestly, she doesn't have time for Pierce and his petty and unnecessary jealousy.

"Says you."

"For the love of Streisand, why are you still here?" she bits out while smiling graciously at the girl behind the counter, who smiles back hesitantly as she begins to ring up the items.

"Uh, I live here?"

"Oh really? In the video store? I had no idea you downgraded so drastically." she snips, impressed at her sudden boldness and witty retort. She's always been one of those people who can never think of anything to say in the heat of the moment.

"You know what I mean." he sneers and Rachel narrows her eyes at him. "I really don't appreciate you coming back here and bringing your loser boyfriend with you."

Rachel gasps, reeling back as if he had struck her, "He is not a loser!"

"Really, he's not?" Pierce asks, looking down at her condescendingly. She tosses a ten on the counter to pay for her things and whips around to face him glaringly.

"No! He's not, he's charming and talented and funny and surprisingly smart. You don't know anything about him. How dare you make assumptions!" In all honesty, she doesn't know why his comment is offending her so much, but she's feeling extremely defensive because she knows Puck isn't a loser, _he's not_. When Pierce doesn't respond, she simply rolls her eyes and takes her change and bag from the girl. She's about a step from the door when Pierce speaks again.

"I know he got a girl pregnant."

Rachel freezes, "How on Earth did you find out about that?"

Pierce shrugs, "Small town, word gets out."

"We don't even live here!" she cries. Did Puck's aunt know about the baby? It's more than likely that his mother would have told her, but why would she spread it around town? Rachel sighs to herself and attributes it to all of them being Jewish.

"Like that makes a difference."

"Listen to me, Pierce, Noah Puckerman is not a loser and if I hear you say that or anything even remotely similar to that again, I will make it my personal mission in life to have you maimed." she threatens, all on one breath, before storming out of the store.

"You're sure you're not dating him?" he calls when she's halfway down the street. Rachel nearly flips him off, but there's an elderly couple walking towards her and she doesn't want to offend them. Also, she'd rather not resort to such vulgarity, no matter how upset she is.

"Goodbye, Pierce!"

– –

By the time seven rolls around, Rachel's freaking out has reduced to a simmer. The oven is being preheated and the movies are out on the coffee table and her dads are out for the evening. She convinced them to visit an old friend in the neighboring town and they assured her that they would try to stay out as late as possible. She doesn't know why, it's not like tonight is a date, just two friends spending some time together. Rachel is just putting the pizza in the oven when the door bell rings and she burns her finger on the metal rack in the oven in her haste to get the door closed.

"Ow!" she shrieks, shaking out her hand in an attempt to get rid of the pain. Puck knocks on the door now and Rachel throws an "I'm coming!" over her shoulder as she rummages around the freezer for something cold to put on her hand. They have a frozen pack of peas, which she doesn't understand because no one in her family likes peas, but there they are.

"Hold on!" she cries as Puck knocks on the door once again. She checks herself in the mirror in the foyer, blowing the hair that fallen into her face out of the way and then turning to open the door with one hand.

"Hi!" she greets brightly, stepping to the side to let Puck in. He grins at her and she can't help but notice how handsome he looks; his shirt is like a forest green color, which looks amazing on him. She shakes her head, dispelling the thought and nods towards the living room.

"Come in."

"Uh, why do you have … frozen peas on your hand?" he asks as he follows behind her, reaching for her hand to inspect the bag. She wonders if he's always smelled this good, like clean laundry and something else that she can't quite put her finger on.

"Hm? Oh-that-I burnt my hand." she says quickly and Puck furrows his brow at her and she laughs nervously, she has no idea why she's so jumpy.

"Right." he says slowly and steps around the couch to look at the movies she's set out. "Hey! Pineapple Express, awesome." he reaches for the movie and flips it over to read the back.

Rachel shifts her weight from one foot to the other, "I've got some pizza in the oven that should be ready soon." she informs him and he nods. Things are a little awkward, for her at least, she doesn't know if she's still embarrassed because she got drunk in front of him or not. Puck's not really paying much attention to her, just looking at the rest of the movies and she figures it's an opportune moment to flee to the sanctity of the kitchen and compose herself.

"Can I get you something to drink?"

"Uh... yeah, sure." he says absently and she takes two steps backwards into the kitchen. "Got any beer?"

Rachel smiles and just like that, she's not freaking out anymore, "Ha-ha, nice try."

– –

They're about a quarter of the way through Pineapple Express when the oven starts beeping loudly. Puck frowns but refuses to take his eyes away from the screen.

"What the fuck is that?"

Rachel rolls her eyes, "The pizza is done." she says as she starts to get up. Puck's hand snakes out and he grabs onto hers, pulling her back onto the couch.

"No, wait! Babe, you're gonna miss the best part!" he insists as he pops a few Milk Duds into his mouth. Rachel laughs and watches the movie for a few seconds before the timer goes off again. Puck gives her an annoyed look and she just shrugs.

"Well … pause it then."

He thinks about it for maybe half a second before waving her away with his hand, "Nah, that's okay."

She laughs again and heads into the kitchen, shutting off the timer before leaning against the sink. She winces when the cold metal comes into contact with her still tender hand. It's not a serious burn, just red and a little sore, and Puck checked it for her any everything and he said it was fine. She carefully takes the pizzas out of the oven and tries to cut them into pieces with one hand before giving up.

"Noah! I require assistance!" she yells, frustration ringing in her voice. She stabs the wooden cutting board with the knife so it stands upright on its own.

"... Seriously?"

Rachel huffs, "Yes, seriously!"

"Okay … be there in a second." She taps her foot impatiently, waiting for a couple seconds before throwing up her hands in annoyance. It does not take that long to walk from her living room to her kitchen. She grabs a tray with her good hand and slides the two pizzas onto it and then pulls the knife from the cutting board.

When she walks back in, Puck is half off of the couch, still staring at the TV. She clears her throat loudly before unceremoniously dropping the tray onto the coffee table.

"I was going right now!"

"Of course you were." she grumbles, stepping around him angrily so she can get to where she was sitting before. She plans on staying irritated with him for the rest of the night, but then he cuts her pizza into little squares for her and hands them to her on a napkin and her annoyance just fades away.

"Thank you." she says softly and he bobs his head in acknowledgement. It feels like they're in a different world, sitting there together, eating pizza and being the most civil to each other that they've probably ever been. Rachel feels just … really comfortable … and safe, like nothing bad is going to happen in this little bubble. Puck props his feet up on the coffee table and Rachel doesn't even bother to tell him not to. Instead she tucks her feet under his thigh and leans back on the couch.

"Noah?" she asks quietly and he spares her a glance before looking back at the TV.

"Yeah?"

She knows that asking this question will more than likely ruin the perfect harmony they have going on right now, but she can't help herself. She's been thinking about it since he told her yesterday afternoon, which seems like it was years ago.

"What … what happened? … With Quinn?" Puck tenses up and she instantly regrets asking.

He shifts uncomfortably, "It just didn't work out."

"Oh." she nods, she doesn't want to push him, even though part of her is dying to know. "Okay." About five minutes pass with Puck basically squirming in his seat and Rachel pretending not to notice. He angles his body towards her slightly but then turns back around and then he clears his throat.

"It's just … I don't think we were really … like together in the first place." he says finally. Rachel gives him a sympathetic smile and he seems to relax a little more, he even smiles as he looks back at the TV.

"Yeah .. and … I don't know if you noticed or not, but … she's kind of a bitch."

Rachel gasps, "Noah!" she says as she untucks one of her feet to kick at him. He laughs as he holds down her legs with one of his arms.

"What? She was always yelling at me for no reason."

Rachel stops fidgeting to raises a disbelieving brow at him, "Really? For no reason at all?"

"... Most of the time, yeah!" he says defensively, playfully shoving her feet off the couch. She pouts and kicks him lightly before tucking them under his thigh again.

There's a long pause before she speaks again, "I'm sorry it didn't work out, Noah."

He purses his lips with a shrug, "Whatever, plenty of other girls to defile."

"Noah!" she scolds and all he does his laugh, she's really starting to love that sound.

– –

"Isn't she amazing?"

"Uh, sure."

"Listen to her, Noah."

"I am."

"She just puts everything into it." Rachel sighs and then snuggles up closer to him. Puck's not sure how it happened, but somehow she managed to nestle herself right up against his side. "Do you think one day I could be like Babs?"

He shrugs, "Yeah, probably."

"This part always makes me cry." she mentions just as the scene changes to a theatre. Puck knows what's going to happen, he's seen this movie what feels like one hundred times. He's probably seen every Streisand movie more than ten times, not by choice either. His mom is just as obsessed with her as Rachel is and he used to get roped into watching them as a kid. And sure enough, as soon as the singing starts, Rachel starts sniffling.

"It's just so sad!" she wails. "He left her and all she ever did was love him!"

Puck rolls his eyes, "Yeah, but she was always dogging him. Sometimes a guys just gotta have like … some room to breathe."

"But she did it because she loved him! And then she just gets punished for it?"

"She's not being punished. The guy obviously wasn't right for her, it's like … look- do you want some dude to hide shit from you and go around behind your back, losing all your money? No, you chicks want a guy who's gonna act like the sun shines out of your ass."

"That's not necessarily true." Rachel pouts and Puck gives her a look and she laughs. "Well- I mean … a girl does like to get complimented every once in awhile. And she was always complimenting him! Telling him how wonderful he was and how much she loved him and he just threw it in her face."

"Dude, it's just like her mom said, the guy was failing at life and he didn't want to like … drag her down with him or something."

Rachel pauses and then grins at him happily, "Noah, I had no idea you were so insightful."

"Don't tell anyone." he says seriously as the credits start to roll on the screen. It's almost midnight and his mom told him that if he stayed out all night again she was basically going to kill him. "Well, I gotta go ..."

"Oh! Right, well … take some cookies with you." she says as she gets up off the couch. She skips into the kitchen, which Puck thinks is actually pretty cute, but he's not going to tell her that, ever.

"Okay." he calls out as he grabs the box of Milk Duds that was left and shoves them into his pants pocket. He has no idea how Rachel knew he loved them, she probably called his mom or something.

"Here you go!" she holds out a clear plastic baggy full of cookies as she walks back into the living room, which he takes because Rachel makes some pretty bomb cookies.

"Thank you for watching Funny Girl with me."

He shrugs, "It's whatever."

"Tonight was fun." she says as they walk over to the door. Her ponytail is switching behind her and he reaches out to tug on it. She swats his hand away, but smiles and pulls it over her shoulder. "We- we can do this again right?"

He shoves his hands in his pants pocket, "What? Like hang out? Sure thing, Berry." he says when she nods forcefully. She grins up at him as she opens the front door, reaching up to peck him on the cheek before he can walk out.

"Good night, Noah."

"Night, Rachel." he says slowly, giving her a funny look. She's so different from how she is back home, so much more chill and like, she seems like more of a girl. Not that she's not a girl at home, because all those short skirts prove otherwise.

"Huh." he says to himself as he stands on her front porch after she's closed the door. "Well … that was weird." he mumbles, walking down the front steps towards his mom's Jetta.

He gets the same feeling that he got last night, like he was totally on a date with Rachel Berry and he didn't even realize it.

* * *

**reviews are always appreciated! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Yeah, it's been like two years and I have no excuses. _no excuses. _Sorry for the long wait!

* * *

"Fuck no."

Rachel winces at his vulgarity, but persists,"But Noah-"

"Sorry babe, but there's no way I'm watching another Streisand movie with you." Puck says as they walk out of the video store, empty handed.

Rachel pouts, "But why not?"

"Because I love Babs as much as the next straight dude." he says with a shrug. "Which is not a lot."

"Well ..." Rachel sighs and links arms with him as they walk down the main street. "There's always Hepburn!"

"... Who ?" Puck asks slowly and Rachel stops to frown at him. He just shrugs again and pulls her into the Day and Night cafe, a tiny diner that says it's open twenty-four-seven, but is really only open from six to eight. Rachel giggles as he helps her onto the stool at the counter and he pauses to scowl at her before hopping onto his own with ease.

They've seen each other everyday for the past week and a half, Rachel doesn't understand how he's not sick of her yet. He's been almost _sweet_, which she finds a little perturbing, today is the first time he's complained about her constant choice of movie and really she excepted him to say something that first night. And they've been talking about things Rachel didn't even know Puck could converse about, like books and movies and sometimes they'll talk about being Jewish. They haven't touched the subject of home and the people there, it's like an unwritten law that they just can't talk about it, because then they would have to talk about how different things will be when they go back.

Sid, the guy who owns the restaurant, sets down a glass of orange juice in front of her and a cup of coffee in front of Puck, "The usual?"

"Yeah, sure." Puck consents and hands back over their menus.

Rachel smiles brightly, "I love that I have a usual." Puck just nods as he drinks his coffee, Rachel knows his preferences now, he likes it black with two sugars. She knows this is dangerous territory, knowing all these little things about him. She used to know a lot of little things about Finn as well and look how that turned out.

"Hey, did you know Van Isle has an open air theatre?" Puck asks, breaking her out of her reverie as he reads the newspaper, something she never thought she'd see him do. She blinks at him for a moment before she fully comprehends what he's said and she sighs.

"Noah, do you ever think that maybe … I mean, would you ever want to do something other than watch movies?"

He flips the page as he raises his mug to his lips, not even sparing her a glance, "Like what? Make out?" he asks so nonchalantly that Rachel nearly chokes on her orange juice.

"What? No." she answers quickly, "Why would – no." she can't seem to stop herself from speaking. Puck gives her a look over the top of his mug and she just shakes her head, laughing awkwardly. "No."

"Relax, Berry. I'm just joking."

"Oh." she says, slouching over in her seat ever so slightly, now she feels like an idiot. Sometimes she gets so caught up in him and the way he is with her here that she forgets that he's flirtatious by nature.

"What else did you wanna do? I don't think there's really a lot of fun shit to do around here. Unless you wanna steal wheelchairs from a couple of geezers and race down that big hill off of Fourth." Rachel frowns deeply at him, but he just shrugs it off, "Just an idea."

Rachel rolls her eyes and takes a sip of her orange "No, I was thinking that we could attend the fair."

"Yeah, okay." Puck says with a snort, obviously not taking her seriously. Rachel scowls at him and slaps at his shoulder. He gives her a disbelieving look, "What? You're serious?"

"Yes, I'm serious! I haven't been to the fair in years and it was always so much fun and I think you'd like it." she says quickly, looking up at him with hopefully eyes. "Please, Noah? Please can we go?"

Puck blinks at her stupidly for a second, "Well … I … my mom was gonna barbeque or whatever, but I guess I could try and talk my way out of it."

"Oh thank you!" she squeals and launches herself at him, almost making them both fall. He laughs as he hugs her back, holding her steady so she doesn't topple over. She tries not to focus on how his hand lingers on her lower back for a couple seconds before he moves away.

"Your dads aren't gonna be pissed that you're hanging out with me instead of them?" he asks as he readjusts himself on the stool.

"No, they're going to one of their friends house. I'd go with them, but they're all stuffy old people and one of them always tries to pinch my face every time I see her, which I do not appreciate seeing as how I am not five anymore." she scowls. And then with a shrug, she adds "And I was hoping you'd go with me."

Puck snorts at her and goes to take another drink of his coffee, "Well, I'll see what I can do, Berry."

* * *

"This fucking blows, man." Benji grumbles as he zips up his hoodie all the way to his chin. Puck glances over at him for a second before sighing loudly.

"Well it's not like I wanted you to be here either, dipshit."

"No swearing!" Sarah yells at the top of her lungs as they pull into the parking lot of the train station. Puck wants to bash his head repeatedly against the steering wheel. This is so not what he had in mind for today. Originally, he was just going to stay home and sleep all day and then try and sneak a few beers while his family was watching the fireworks.

Of course that all went to shit when Rachel asked him to go to the fair with her. He doesn't know what it is with that girl, but she makes it impossible to say no to her. But yeah, he figured that his mom wouldn't care if he went, seeing as how he was going with _Rachel _after all and his mom practically worships her.

And she was cool with it.

As long as he took Benji and his little sister with him. Puck tried to talk his way out of it and Benji bitched about it for a good twenty minutes. They tried convincing _both _of their moms that it was a horrible idea, but they had insisted that it would be good for all of them to spend _quality time _together. Which, fuck that shit, the only person Puck wants to be spending quality time with is Rachel.

Yeah, okay, so he kind of likes her. A lot. He can't even deny it anymore.

And having Benji and Sarah there is just going to be weird, but it's the only way he was going. And he's seen that face that Rachel makes when she's all sad and disappointed. He is not having that face directed at him.

"Dipshit isn't even a swear word!" Puck cries as he pulls into an empty parking space. They're taking the train because the fair is over an hour away and he doesn't want to have to deal with Sarah needing to stop for bathroom breaks every ten seconds and the hassle of parking.

"It is too!" she retorts, crossing her arms dramatically.

"Whatever, twerp." he mutters as he unbuckles his seatbelt. "Let's just get this over with."

He smiles as soon as he sees Rachel standing at the platform with a giant backpack and a sweater tied around her waist. She looks like a total dork.

"Got enough supplies there, Berry?" he asks as they walk up to her. She tugs on the straps of her backpack and nods seriously.

"Yes, I am fully prepared for any kind of situation that might arise. I have a flashlight and a first aid kit and some energy bars that we can ration incase we get stranded somewhere." she prattles on excitedly. Both Sarah and Benji give her weird looks, but Puck just laughs quietly.

"Geez, B. Sure you're not forgetting something?"

Rachel looks panicked for a second and he can see the wheels turning in her head as she runs over her mental list of things.

"No. I'm _sure _I have everything. What else would I need?"

Puck snorts and scratches the back of his head, "I don't know. The kitchen sink, maybe."

Rachel blinks at him for a second before narrowing her eyes and reaching over to smack his shoulder. "Not funny."

Puck laughs again and pats her on the head before pulling her into his side. "Relax, Rach. I'm just kidding. I'm sure those rations will come in handy."

"They will! You'll see!" she insists as he steers her over to the boarding area. Sarah latches onto his other arm and Benji trails behind them, looking absolutely miserable. Boarding the train is only kind of a disaster, Rachel knocks over a kid with her backpack and while the kid's mom is yelling at her, Puck is freaking out because he can't find their tickets. Then Sarah pulls them out of her back pocket after five minutes of him having a meltdown with a smug smile on her face. He swears, he could ring that kid's neck if she wasn't his baby sister.

Finally, they all manage to get on the train and find seats and Puck pushes Benji out of the way when he tries to sit next to Rachel.

* * *

Rachel is a little more than excited about going to the fair, she can barely sit still on the train ride to the fairgrounds. Puck asks her more than once about the amount of caffeine she's consumed, but it's all just a natural high. When they get there she can't seem to get off the train fast enough and almost barrels into the small child she knocked over earlier before Puck pulls her back.

"Easy there." he says with a chuckle and then lets go to grab Sarah's hand. Rachel is almost glad that they came along, that makes this most certainly not a date. Except he pays for her ticket, which makes Rachel have an internalized freak out for a good ten minutes. She so desperately wants this to be a date, but she doesn't think Puck wants it to. And if she just assumes and slips her hand into his like she wants to, he might be weirded out and things will just get … _awkward._

So she pushes those thoughts to the back of her mind and tries to enjoy the day with Puck, _her friend. _He makes Benji ride with Sarah for most of the rides and he does that thing where he puts his arm around her shoulders that makes her feel warm and safe. Sarah gets them all to eat deep fried butter, which is one of the most heart stopping things she's ever eaten, she swears her arteries clog as soon as the fried mass enters her body. Puck and Benji are just as equally grossed out, the latter resorting to spitting his out in the nearest trashcan.

Rachel buys two funnel cakes and she shares hers with Puck and gives the other one to Benji and Sarah. Puck lets her stuff pieces into his mouth as they walk around and she laughs at the amount of powder sugar that manages to get all over his face.

Sarah squeals when she sees a giant pink bunny hanging on the wall of a game booth and Puck sighs before going over and offering to win it for her. It's one of those ball tossing games that boys always play in movies to win prizes for their dates. Rachel thinks it's sweet that he's doing it for his little sister. He gets it on the first try and Sarah is delighted as the kid working the booth hands her the bunny. Puck ruffles her hair and takes her hand before nodding off to some ride that seems to twirl people around in the air.

"This one looks fun." he says with a grin and Rachel feels her stomach grow nauseous just looking at it.

"I think I'll pass." she murmurs and Sarah nods fervently.

"Yeah, me too!"

He and Benji both shrug, "Okay, we'll be right back then."

Rachel watches as the boys walk over to the line and laughs when Benji randomly shoves Puck for seemingly no reason.

"Do you like my brother?" Sarah asks, breaking Rachel out of her reverie. She frowns and feels her heartbeat quicken, _am I being too obvious?_

"Of course, I do. He's my friend."

"Yeah, but do you _like _like him?" Sarah persists and Rachel wishes the girl wasn't so observant.

She also wishes she knew how to answer this question. Instead she decides that reverse tactics are in order.

"Do you _like _like any boys?" she challenges, raising an eyebrow in amusement when the girl turns pink.

"No, boys are stupid. Well … I mean, there's this one kid, Jeremy. He goes to school with me and sometimes he gives me his grapes from his lunch 'cause they're my favorite."

Rachel grins, "Hey, grapes are my favorite too."

"Really? That's cool! And hey, you never answered my question." Sarah adds, frowning at her. Rachel sighs, "You have to promise not to tell anyone, okay?"

"Okay, I pinky promise." Sarah swears, extending her pinky finger to Rachel. Rachel hooks hers with the girls and smiles.

"I think I might."

Sarah's nose crinkles up in disgust, "Ew, gross."

Rachel just laughs.

* * *

The day is winding down and they've been walking for awhile, trying to find cool things to do. They've already been to the petting zoo, which both Rachel and Sarah loved. Puck couldn't really stand there for that long without wanting to barf because of all the animal crap. They already ran out of ride tickets halfway through the day and ate just about every fried thing they could find (Rachel drew the line at deep fried frog legs).

"Ladies and gentlemen, in about twenty minutes the fireworks will begin. There is seating on the track that is filling up quickly, so please hurry if you want to find a seat." A voice carries out over the fairgrounds and Rachel instantly perks up.

"Noah, the fireworks!" she says insistently, tugging on his arm. "Come on! We have to get good seats."

Puck lets her pull him for a minute before he gets an idea, "Wait, Rach. Hold up."

He grabs Rachel's hand and motions for Benji, who has Sarah on his shoulders, to follow him. Rachel is babbling next to him, but he doesn't listen because his idea is fucking fantastic. He practically skids to a stop in front of the ferris wheel and ignores Rachel telling him that they don't have anymore tickets and nods to the kid running the ride.

"Hey man, I will give you like … fifty bucks if you let the four of us ride right now and then maybe have us stop at the top when the fireworks start?"

The kid blinks at him stupidly until Puck pulls the bill out of his wallet and waves it in front of his face, "Oh, sure."

"Noah, that is bribery!" Rachel hisses as he pushes her in front of him and away from the line of people looking outraged.

"Relax, B. I got this." he mutters as he helps her into her seat. He slides in next to her and then peeks over his shoulder at Benji and Sarah as the kid pulls down their lap bar. The ferris wheel starts and Puck grabs onto the bar tightly. He fucking hates heights, but he knows Rachel's gonna love the view.

She doesn't look quite so pissed off now, she actually looks pretty excited. She's leaning over the edge of their little booth, rocking it and making Puck really nervous.

"Wow, Noah! Look at how pretty the fair is from up here!"

"Yep." He says tightly, trying to force the tub back with his weight. Rachel looks over her shoulder at him and smiles brightly and he relaxes a little. "Aren't you glad I bribed that guy?"

Rachel rolls her eyes at him before looking back out at the fair. Puck will admit, its a pretty sick view, he can see all the way out past the parking lot from up here.

"Do you think the fireworks will start soon?" she asks, rubbing her arms. "It's really windy up here." she notes and Puck moves to put his arm around her. She leans back and cuddles into his side and Puck is feeling pretty much like the man right now.

Then the fireworks start and things kind of go down hill.

Rachel is really happy and just freaking out as they explode in the sky and Puck is just smiling because shes fucking cute right now and then all of a sudden she just gets this look in her eyes.

And he knows that look, she's totally about to kiss him. She's leaning in and her lips are on his right as a giant firework explodes and this shit only happens in all those chick flicks, not in real life, at least not _his _life.

And then for some stupid as fuck reason, Puck just freezes. Like, Rachel's mouth is seriously on his mouth and he doesn't do _anything._ He's been waiting for this moment for weeks and now he's just sitting there.

What the fuck is wrong with him?

Rachel must sense that he's not doing anything because she pulls back all fast and it's dark outside, but Puck can still see how red her face is. Suddenly, she's really interested in the fireworks and the people on the ground and sitting as far away from him as possible.

He's an idiot, a fucking idiot.

And as soon as their on the ground Rachel puts as much distance between them as she can and walks with Sarah. Benji is side eying him so hard right and and he seriously just wants to punch the kid.

Puck doesn't know why he's not saying anything. He's not good with feelings and shit, but he should at least be able to tell Rachel that he thinks she's hot and would totally bang her.

But it's more than that. He like, actually cares about her opinions on stuff and likes to make her laugh and he doesn't even mind watching Funny Girl over and over and over again.

So yeah, he really likes this girl and that means he's basically screwed.

* * *

Rachel has never been more horrified in her life. And that's saying something because there have been embarrassing moments aplenty. But this just takes the cake. She should've just left it alone, but the way he was looking at her … she couldn't help it.

And now things are really weird and she can't look at his face and she's really grateful that there are no more quad seats left on the train so she sits next to Benji, which kind of freaks him out. She doesn't care though, as long as she doesn't have to sit next to Puck and be forced to think about how incredibly stupid she was.

Was she just imagining it all? She could've sworn there were _signs_ that he liked her. She's read enough of Cosmo to know that when a guy puts his arm around you like that it means _something_. Puck keeps glancing over at her from his seat in front of them but she keeps her attention solely focused out the window.

They've been on the train for about forty five minutes and she's really bored of staring out into the practically black night when she realizes that she really has to use the restroom. She asks Benji if she could get out and he obliges, give her a little half bow as he stands up to get out of her way and she giggles.

She trots down the aisle, refusing to look at Puck as she passes him and then hurries down the narrow stairs that lead to the bathroom and the cafe cart. She's just about to close the restroom door when Puck squeezes in with her and locks them in. It takes a moment for what just happen to register in her mind, but when it does she gapes at him.

"Excuse me!" she shrills, placing her fists firmly on her hips, "What are you doing in here? This is an invasion of my personal space! You can't just-"

Puck cuts her off by cupping her face in his hand and kissing her. Rachel is throughly shocked and tries to gather her thoughts before saying _screw it_ and kissing him back. Her hands fist in his shirt and she can feel him smile against her mouth.

He pulls away after a second, "I should've done that earlier." he breathes out and Rachel frowns.

"Why didn't you then? I mean, you didn't say anything at all and then you just come in here and kiss me-"

"Rachel." Puck interrupts her diatribe again and she huffs, but he just laughs, "I'm sorry I was such a dick earlier. You just... surprised me and I don't … I don't know why I didn't fucking kiss you back, okay? I've been kicking myself in the ass about that ever since it happened. But I'm just … I really like you okay, in a 'I more than just want to bang you' kind of way." Rachel scoffs, but he continues, "And I have no idea what I'm doing because, let's face it, I'm an idiot, but I've been wanting to kiss you for the past two weeks and I royally fucked it up. I'm sorry that I was such a dick."

Rachel studies him for a long moment, watching him become increasingly uncomfortable as she says nothing. Then she smiles and tugs on his shirt, which is still in her hands.

"If I kiss you this time will you kiss me back?" she asks, almost flirtatiously she thinks, which surprises her. And Puck too, apparently, if the look on his face is any indication. It's a fleeting look though and a second later he's smirking at her.

"Why don't you try and find out."

Rachel rolls her eyes and pulls him down to her level, which is only slightly difficult, given their height difference. She kisses him and is a little more than relieved when he returns the gesture. His hands find purchase in her hair and cup the back of her head and she entwines her arms around his neck.

She pulls back after a few seconds and he's blinking at her stupidly, "What? What's wrong?" he asks as his eyes focus on her.

"Nothing. I just … I came in here for a reason." she say, nodding towards the bathroom their standing it. It takes a second for Puck to realize where they are and when he does he laughs.

"Oh right," he mutters as he disentangles himself from her arms, "I'll just … wait out here then." he says as he unlocks the door and steps out.

"Okay." she says with a happy little smile on her face. She slides the door shut and locks it before leaning against it and squealing as quietly as she can.

He likes her, he _like _likes her.

Rachel uses the restroom as fast as she can and barely finishes drying her hands before she's out of the bathroom. It takes her a moment to spot Puck sitting at a table in the cafe car. They spend the rest of the ride home sitting there, drinking soda and talking and at one point Puck reaches over and tucks a piece of hair behind her ear and he just _looks _at her and gives her that little smile that she's only seen when they're alone.

That's when she knows she's in trouble.

It is very possible that she will fall in love with Noah Puckerman this summer and they haven't even been on a date yet.

* * *

A/N: So, I don't know when this will be updated next. I don't watch Glee anymore, but I still love PR so I'm sure I will finish this fic, but I just don't know when. Thanks to all of you who have stuck around to see this chapter! I'm sorry if it wasn't what you were expecting, but it was kind of hard to pick up after a year of not writing it.

thanks for reading, reviews are always welcome!


End file.
